


Looking Out

by Lady_Sci_Fi



Series: The Life and Times of Mike Yates and John Benton [18]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:02:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25965547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Sci_Fi/pseuds/Lady_Sci_Fi
Summary: Bill Potts ends up in a pub with unpleasant company. Fortunately, the pub is run by two ex-companions of the Doctor, former Captain Yates and Sergeant Benton.
Relationships: John Benton/Mike Yates
Series: The Life and Times of Mike Yates and John Benton [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978336
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	Looking Out

**Author's Note:**

> contains some homophobia

Mike Yates emerged from the back office of the White Hart pub, and slid behind the bar to check the stock. “About time for the dinner crowd,” he said to his partner. He discreetly moved his hand up the other’s back in affection.

John Benton nodded, and glanced over at the two small parties already in for an early dinner. “How rowdy you think this crowd might get?” he teased.

“Well, it is Friday night, so… hopefully not too much,” Mike responded with a chuckle.

About forty-five minutes later, Mike took over the greeting position at the door to let the woman there take a break. He didn’t mind, liking the opportunity to be closer to their patrons, but not too close to be in the middle of conversations and other attention.

Bill Potts glanced over the menu, then looked up to her two new… they weren’t friends, she would say. Acquaintances made more sense. She had been in London visiting a friend, and these friends of that friend had offered to take her out for dinner while her actual friend had some other thing to go to. So they’d taken her to this pub on the outskirts of London. It was certainly nice, welcoming with the perfect atmosphere a pub should have.

“So,” Bill prompted the couple sitting across from her. They were a little older than her, late-twenties, she guessed. No older than thirty, certainly. She tapped the menu in her hand. “What would you recommend?”

“Everything we’ve tried here is great,” the woman, Kayla, answered.

“Yeah, great food and drinks. Perfect place for a meal and all,” added the man, Dave. He leaned in to say, “Shame about the owners.”

Bill furrowed her brow. “The owners? What about them? Something bad happen?”

“They’re a couple of Nancy’s, you know what I mean?”

Bill slightly tilted her head. “Not quite following.”

Kayla shook her head and admonished her boyfriend with a little laugh. She looked to Bill and clarified. “Fags, and not the smoking kind. Homos.”

“Oh,” was all Bill could manage in a tiny voice. Had she really gone to dinner with a pair of homophobes? In 2016?

“I haven’t seen them all over each other or anything, thank God. No one needs to see that. Still, just knowing,” said Dave.

“Like we said, a shame, a nice place like this being run by people like that.”

Bill didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to stay with them, obviously, but any protesting or attempt to leave would no doubt out her, and get her abuse from them. She really didn’t want any of that aimed herself. She kept one hand on the menu, and lowered the other to her lap so they couldn’t see it shaking and clenching a little. “How… how do you know?”

Kayla shrugged. “People talk.”

“Right…” Bill nervously stared down at the menu.

Dave again leaned in, and gestured behind him with his thumb. “One of them’s over there. In the greeter spot, with the white ponytail.”

Bill did look up to see the man in question. She could only see his profile from this angle, but she guessed his age to be over sixty-five, but not what she would think of as really old. She didn’t get the chance to watch him longer, because the instant his head turned in her direction, she stared back down at the menu again.

“I’ve seen the other one tend the bar sometimes,” Kayla stated. “Kind of spiky greying brown hair.”

Bill cleared her throat. “Well, shall we eat? What about…”

Mike had managed to hear most of the conversation over the general sound of the mostly-full pub. The trio was sitting close enough for it. Then he had snuck a few looks in their direction, mostly only seeing the face of the dark-skinned young woman. He only needed that to get a good idea of the situation. The expression on her face… well, he and Benton had unfortunately made it several times throughout their own lives. 

A few minutes later, he got up when he saw a server make his way to that table. He intercepted him halfway, and whispered, “Not them.”

“Mike?” the server questioned just as quietly.

Mike smiled softly. “I’ll take care of them.” He gestured to the greeter chair. “Take over for Shana? She’ll be back in a few.”

“Sure thing.”

Mike headed to the bar, and sat in the empty stool at the end. He only had to wait a minute for Benton to come to him from helping in the kitchen.

“Bit early for a drink, isn’t it?” Benton lightly asked.

“Not here for that, yet,” Mike replied. Then he let out a long sigh. “Troublesome patrons.”

“Already?”

“Not the rowdy kind. Homophobic.”

“Ah,” Benton understood. “Thinking we kick them out?”

“Exactly. Table four.”

Benton looked around Mike to the table in question.

“The couple, not the other girl with them. She looked… scared when they started talking like that, but trying to hide it.”

Benton nodded. “Still looks a bit panicked.” He groaned slightly and tapped the back of Mike’s hand. “Alright, let’s do it.”

The pair casually made their way to that table, and when they reached it, Mike interrupted the changed conversation with a polite, “Excuse me.”

“Oh, you’re going to take our orders? I guess that’s fine, if everyone else is too busy,” Dave said with an exaggerated sigh.

Benton, with his eye on the younger woman, saw the panic flare in her expression before she tried to hide it again. He noticed one of her hands on her lap, and the other on the menu slightly trembling.

When Mike and Benton didn’t move, Kayla asked, “What? You see something you like? Better not be thinking of propositioning my boyfriend.”

“Not seeing anything we like, no,” Mike responded, meaning it in two ways. “Especially not your attitude.”

“Our attitude?” Dave echoed. “Nothing wrong with that.” He put his hands behind his head and leaned back a bit. “Now, you gonna get our food?”

“On the contrary. I happened to overhear your earlier conversation,” Mike explained.

“We don’t tolerate that kind of behavior here,” Benton stated.

“We’re tolerating you,” Kayla shot back.

Mike heard the tiny wince from the other woman.

“We’re kicking you out,” Benton said lowly.

“What? You can’t do that!” Dave straightened and stared Benton in the eyes.

“You did say we were the owners,” Mike pointed out. “And since we truly are, we can do that.”

“We don’t want a scene, do we?” Benton kept Dave’s glare, completely unfazed by it.

“We tolerate this place being run by you because everything else is good. You saying you don’t want our business?”

Mike nodded. “That’s exactly what we’re saying. Now get out.” He spared a second to look to the dark-skinned woman. He could tell she was having an internal debate on what to do.

“Maybe we should just leave?” Bill suggested, her voice shaky. “I mean, they could call the police or something if they really want to.”

“Call the police for what? We haven’t done anything wrong,” Kayla protested.

Benton put his hands on the table and bent over. “You’re not listening. Out. Now.”

Dave looked like he was going to begin shouting, but his girlfriend said, “Come on, they’re not worthy of anything, anyway.”

Benton straightened as the couple scooted out of the booth to get up. Mike placed a gentle hand on the younger woman’s shoulder to stop her from following them, and winked at her in assurance.

“We’ll tell our friends not to come here,” Dave threatened.

“Tell whoever you like. We’ll still be here without you and your friends,” Benton responded.

The offending couple left, muttering their anger to each other. They glanced back at Bill, but decided to leave without her.

Mike removed his hand from Bill’s shoulder, and she relaxed slightly. “Are you okay?” he softly asked.

Bill took a few breaths. “Think so, now that they’re gone.” She swallowed. “I mean… I’m not in trouble?”

“I didn’t hear anything from you, so you’re in the clear.”

“Right, you would’ve kicked me out with them.”

“You may stay, if you want to,” Benton invited. “And have a meal and drink on the house.”

“Really?” Bill glanced down to the menu. She was hungry, but didn’t want to take advantage of them. “You don’t have to.”

“We know we don’t. So, what do you want?” Benton asked.

“And, do you mind if we join you?” said Mike.

Bill said they were welcome to sit with her, and nervously told them what she wanted, still concerned with offending them somehow.

Benton left to tell the kitchen and bartender the order, and Mike sat across from Bill. They only had to wait a minute for Benton to return, which Bill spent fidgeting with the menu pages.

“Shouldn’t be long,” Benton informed as he scooted in next to his partner.

“I’m Mike, this is John,” Mike introduced.

“Call me Benton,” Benton corrected.

“I’m Bill.” She cleared her throat. “Thank you, for… Hold on, you kicked them out and got me away from them at the same time. Um… how did you know I wasn’t…. wasn’t comfortable?”

“I recognized that expression you had when they started talking like that.”

“Yeah, I guess I was panicking. But I didn’t want to let them know, because they might’ve… might’ve started talking about me like that.”

“That’s exactly it,” Benton nodded. “We don’t tolerate that behavior anyway.” He warmly smiled. “Helping you was a bonus.”

Bill nodded. “I wasn’t expecting… well, that. I mean, I didn’t really know them, just met them today. Friend of a friend, you know? Thought they were alright, but… I was proved wrong. I mean… I wasn’t sure what to do, other than stay quiet and not draw that attention to myself. Wasn’t sure how to leave without… you know. Thanks, again.”

Mike nodded. “We do like to look out for our own when we can.”

“So… you are together?”

“Oh yes. For a long time.” Benton glanced to Mike.

“That’s good. Not that it would ever be bad, I mean…” Bill gave up and looked down to her hands.

Mike and Benton sensed she wanted to say something more, and gave her the space to sort it out.

Bill took a deep breath. “It’s one thing, to be ignored or denied. My foster mum does that. Denial and ignoring that part of me. I’m used to that. Not that I’ve explicitly told her I’m… Anyway, it’s different when someone you think is cool pulls what they did out on you out of nowhere.” She shook her head. “But I’m sure that isn’t as bad as what I guess you two went through back then?”

Mike hummed. “It has gotten better, yes. But there will always be individuals who refuse to progress.” He put his hand palm up on the table, and moved it towards her. “Despite however worse we might’ve had it, your experiences can still hurt you.”

A slow smile appeared on Bill’s face, and she put her hand in Mike’s.

Their food arrived a few minutes later. Benton started a new conversation with, “So, Bill, what do you do?”

“I’m just a dinner lady at a university. Nothing exciting.”

“Local one?” Mike asked.

“Oh no, I was just visiting in London today. No, one in Bristol. St Luke’s.”

“St Luke’s, huh?” Benton grinned. “We have a friend who teaches there.”

“Attending any classes?” Mike inquired.

“Ah… not really. I mean, I kind of listen in sometimes when I’m not working. But that’s it. I don’t properly attend.” Bill took several bites of her meal.

“Thinking of doing something about that?” Benton inquired.

“I don’t know… Don’t know if I even know what I would want to do.” She chuckled a little. “Might be better than where I’m at now, which would be nice.” She turned the conversation on the couple with, “How about you two? How long have you had this place?”

“A good while. Several years,” Benton answered.

“What about before that?” Bill’s eyes widened at one of their answers. “Army? As in soldiers? But I thought-“

“It wasn’t allowed,” Mike affirmed. “We had to keep ourselves secret.”

“And it worked out for us alright,” Benton added. He grinned. “Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates at your service, Miss.”

Bill laughed. “I’m glad it did work out for you.”

About an hour later, Bill said, “I hate to leave, but I should get going. Back to Bristol. Shame about how it started, but I’m glad to have met you tonight.”

“As are we,” Mike responded. He extended his hand to her again, and Benton did the same.

Bill put both her hands on theirs.

“If you’re ever in the area, stop by and say hello,” Benton invited.

“Definitely! I’ll pay next time.” Bill shook their hands, then scooted out of the booth. “I’ll make sure to come back.”

“We look forward to it.” Mike and Benton turned to watch her leave, smiling at her retreating form through the window.

Some months later.

Mike looked up at the knock to the half-open office door. “Yes, John?” he said to his partner’s excited face.

“Bill’s here, and she’s brought someone with her! Come on.”

Mike closed the folder of paperwork, and followed Benton out to the pub proper.

Bill beamed when she saw the pair, and waved them over to her table. As soon as they were close enough, she said, “We were in the area, and I was hungry, so I convinced him to come here with me.”

“Didn’t take any convincing, Bill,” said the Doctor. He smiled to the couple. “Mike, Benton. Good to see you.”

“Always a treat to see you, Doctor,” Mike greeted.

“She one of yours, then?” asked Benton.

Bill glanced between the three of them. “He’s your friend at St Luke’s?”

“We go back a ways,” the Doctor affirmed. “As Benton put it, I count them as two of mine.”

Bill lowered her voice. “Two of yours? Like with the Tardis and everything?”

“Everything,” Mike chuckled.

“Well, what would you two say to a private dinner in the back?” Benton offered.

“I’d love to, if you don’t mind at all,” Bill nodded.

“How could I possibly refuse?” the Doctor stood. “Lead on.”


End file.
